28 Oct GIRL ON A PLANE BLOG TOUR + GUEST POST FROM CASSANDRA O’LEARY

New day, new blog tour! Today I have the pleasure to kick off Cassandra O’Leary’s blog tour for her debut, GIRL ON A PLANE. It was published last month and is described as a sassy and sexy read perfect for fans of rom com. Of course, this includes me and I will be reviewing it soon, so stay tuned for that. In the mean time, I’d like to welcome lovely Cassandra to This Chick Reads and thank her for the amazing blog post. It’s truly an interesting piece and hope you enjoy it! Also, big thanks to Louis from Avon for the chance to be part of the blog tour. Enjoy!

Girl on a Plane by Cassandra O’Leary
Published byMaze
Published on 18.7.2016
Genres:chick lit
Pages: 268
Format:e-book

A sexy, sassy, summer read, perfect for fans of Rebecca Chance and Lindsey Kelk.

CLIMB ON BOARD . . .

When feisty Irish flight attendant Sinead Kennealy locks eyes with sexy Australian CEO Gabriel Anderson in First Class, sparks fly. But as they jet across the globe from Melbourne to London, it’s clear that they’re in for a turbulent journey . . .

Stressed-out Gabriel doesn’t do relationships. And Sinead isn’t about to be fooled by another bad boy after escaping her stalker ex. Then a storm hits, causing the plane to land unexpectedly, and Sinead and Gabriel are thrown together in Singapore.

The pressure rises as Sinead’s unhappy past threatens to catch up with her. But might Gabriel be the one to heal her heartbreak? If he could open up about his troubling secrets, maybe a relationship could actually get off the ground. Fasten your seatbelts – this WON’T be a smooth ride . . .

Creative life and mojo at 40 plus by Cassandra O’Leary

Have you found your creative mojo? I got back into creative writing about three years ago, and the impetus for me was the looming Big 4-0 deadline. I don’t know what it is about a significant birthday to light a fire under my butt, but it worked. I wanted to try writing a novel. A romance novel, since I had an idea revolving around relationships.

I did it, and I’ve kept writing and have already found some success. But you know what? I did it with very little support from people around me, apart from my fabulous husband.

As a woman ‘of a certain age’ i.e. forty one and three quarters, I loathe the assumptions that go with being a woman at this stage of life, let alone one who wants to tackle a creative project or a career change.

Here’s a few crazy assumptions, just for starters:

• If you’re over about 30, you can’t start a brand new career because you’re probably ‘past it’.
• If you’re a woman, you’ll only be worried about ‘settling down’ and being married/having babies/buying shoes/raising cats/collecting kitchen accessories.
• If you’re interested in writing, you’ll only want to write (or read) ‘mummy blogs’ or ‘mummy porn’* (insert dismissive comment and raised eyebrows here).
• If you like to read, you’re probably only reading romance novels, which as everyone knows are problematic or sexist or unrealistic or… (insert unfair assumption here).
• If you are a mum, a wife, and a part-time worker, a woman who enjoys fashion, or cooking, or wine, whatever, you can’t be anything else.

That’s it, done and dusted, get back in your box, woman. As Alicia Silverstone would say in the movie Clueless, “As if!”.

As someone who decided at the age of thirty eight to tackle creative writing in a serious way, and who has gone at it with the tenacity of a multitasking mummy-ninja, I can tell you all of the above are such clichés they’re not even funny.

I believe I can achieve things. I’ve already had three distinct ‘careers’ and will probably have a couple more. I work hard and I’m always interested in learning something new. I am ‘settled’, married with kids, living a suburban life, but that’s not all I am. I like to read everything — news, think pieces, literary fiction, romance, science fiction, blogs, non-fiction. I enjoy reading light-hearted and romantic books, for entertainment.

I can be lots of things, and I will be, probably all at once. I’ve always believed, strangely enough, that I am a person. I am me. I’m good at writing, I love reading and thinking of creative ideas. Always have done, probably always will do. My age and my gender have nothing to do with it. It’s other people who have weird, narrow-minded opinions.

Just do it – time waits for no woman

Sure, I’m busy. Sure, I have young children. Sure, there’s never enough hours in the day to do all the things I need to do, let alone the things I want to do. But that’s life. It rushes by at supersonic speed while you’re busy doing the washing or cleaning the kitchen, until all of a sudden it’s getting hard to remember the things you always wanted to do, but never found time for.

The good news is those things you never had time for are still there in your head. At least the potential things are. I realised that nobody has time, that you have to make time to write if it’s important to you. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather look back and think that I’m proud to have worked hard and written a book, rather than spent all of that time vacuuming the rug.

All I needed to do was block out the negative voices and get started. For me, that internal decision was all it took. It was time. Time to start, time to get going, time to write.

If you’re thinking about writing — perhaps characters have whole conversations in your head over your morning coffee, or you overhear conversations in a cafe and you have to jot them down in a notebook, or you keep a journal — my advice is, just start.

Write something. Anything. Maybe it will be a poem, or a short story, or a romance novel. Maybe you’ll dive straight into the madness of writing a novel in a month during NaNoWriMo or enter a writing contest like I did. Whatever you write, you’ll have something that never existed before in the world. Your work, your thoughts.

Here’s the thing about starting — it’s exciting. It opens up your mind to possibilities you may not have considered before. You may find that you have a whole pile of ideas waiting, based on your life experiences and the stories of people around you. There are benefits to having a few years under your belt!

Creative work can keep you sane

An unexpected by-product of getting creative, for me, is staying sane in an increasingly crazy world. Connecting to inner thoughts and writing them down, taking quiet time-out to read away from television and other distractions or simply taking a walk and letting your mind unwind can all be helpful for your creativity. They can also help reduce stress and keep you mentally well.

As a mother of two young children, I’ve found this surprising and most welcome. Carving time out for myself and my creative work has made me calmer, more mentally present and aware. And my kids love giving me crazy story ideas! I still need to write that book about an undercover, secret brick…

Define your own success

Success doesn’t have to be defined by bestseller status or winning writing awards. Although if some awards were thrown in my general direction, I’d probably reach out and try to catch them.

But success can be defined in many ways, such as finishing a first draft of a book or a new piece of art. That’s something a lot of people will never achieve. Or the goal could be to get that book polished and submit it to a publisher. Maybe it could simply be showing a short story to some readers and having them enjoy your work.

And you never know what might happen. One day, someone might read your work (or see your art, whatever medium you work in) and absolutely love it. Seriously, it could happen.

Here I am, having written (almost) three novels and a few shorter works, taking a leap and jumping in head first to the world of book publishing and being an author. Wish me luck!

P.S. My kids didn’t starve and my husband didn’t leave me. But thanks for all the unsolicited comments and predictions of doom, naysayers and busybodies! #sarcasm

*P.P.S. I hate the term ‘mummy porn’ and believe it was invented by male book reviewers to belittle women writers who dare to write about sexual content…use that term in my presence at your peril!

About Cassandra O’Leary

In 2015, Cassandra was a finalist in the Lone Star writing contest, Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America, and in 2014 she was a finalist in the First Kiss contest run by Romance Writers of Australia. She was the winner of the We Heart New Talent contest run by Avon Maze/HarperCollins and her debut contemporary romance/romantic comedy novel, Girl on a Plane, releases in July 2016.

Cassandra is a mother of two gorgeous, high-energy mini ninjas and wife to a spunky superhero. Living in Melbourne, Australia, she’s also travelled the world. If you want to send her to Italy or Spain on any food or wine tasting ‘research’ trips, that would be splendiferous.

Proud member of Romance Writers of Australia, Melbourne Romance Writers Guild and Writers Victoria.